System and method for wideband direct sampling and beamforming using complex analog to digital converter

ABSTRACT

A system comprising an radio frequency (RF) signal input; a plurality of time-skewed, undersampled analog to digital converters (ADCs); a plurality of complex finite input response (FIR) filters in parallel, wherein each complex FIR filter receives the output beam and/or band provided by the plurality of ADCs and generates a corresponding output beam of a given frequency.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 USC 119 of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 61/002,169 entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FORWIDEBAND DIRECT SAMPLING AND BEAMFORMING USING COMPLEX ANALOG TO DIGITALCONVERTER, filed Nov. 7, 2007, the entire disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to communication systems, andparticularly to digital communication systems.

BACKGROUND

In modern radar and electronic warfare (EW) systems, increasing emphasisis being placed on developing systems that provide element or sub arrayall-digital sampling and beamforming. There is also the added desire tosample very wide (ultra-wide) bandwidths covering, in many cases, up toand beyond X-band. One problem occurs when trying to measure across verywide bandwidths. Extremely fast analog to digital converters (ADCs) fordirect analog to digital conversion would be required, or severalchannels of analog filtering and mixing prior to analog to digitalconversion would be needed to facilitate such implementations. However,conventional ADCs do not sample at the very high rates necessary forstandard approaches to direct radio frequency (RF) sampling, andnormally require at least one stage of intermediate frequency (IF)conversion first. This additional filtering and mixing requiresadditional hardware, cost, and adds to the overall noise floor of thesystem. Alternative techniques and systems for performing such signalprocessing are desired.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention comprise an assembly that requiresno IF, no generation of local oscillator (LO) signals, and no mixers,but rather samples an RF signal directly and demodulates to baseband inone step via aliasing by using a complex analog to digital converter(CADC). The CADC can be used to accomplish wideband sampling andbeamforming by simply adding more channels of digital filtering to asingle array of time-skewed ADCs. This enables not only ultra-widebandprocessing, but also the formation of multiple simultaneous beamsanywhere within the sampled frequency band. Beamforming is accomplishedby building in the appropriate elemental time delay or phase shift intothe filtering operation, requiring no additional processing other thanadding up the element outputs to form a beam.

Solutions to date require high speed ADCs, local oscillators (LOs), andanalog mixers, or a combination of such devices to demodulate an RFsignal to some IF prior to A/D conversion. Wideband signals have beenhandled by using multiple receive channels with several mixers, LOs, andADCs to span the band of interest. These approaches typically requireadditional hardware (relative to direct sampling), and also add noise tothe system, thus degrading performance.

According to an aspect of the invention, a simplified solution utilizesthe characteristics of the CADC to digitally tune several digitalfilters simultaneously virtually anywhere within the sampled datafrequency band, while individual ADCs only need sample at the modestrates commensurate with individual filter bands. This results in a chipor integrated circuit which can directly sample and reduce to basebandmultiple beams and frequency bands without the additional hardwareassociated with analog mixers, LOs, filters, and the like. Byconcatenating the filter outputs, ultra wide band signals can beprocessed, for example from 0 to 16 GHz, in a single chip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of an integrated circuit inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a complex FIR filter inaccordance with the present invention;

FIGS. 3A-3D are diagrams illustrating demodulation in accordance withthe present invention;

FIG. 4 is a chart showing Filter order vs. Normalized Bandwidth forVarious Sampling Rate Reduction Ratios (M);

FIG. 5A is a chart showing the frequency response of a low pass FIRfilter;

FIG. 5B is a chart showing the frequency response of a complex FIRfilter;

FIG. 6A is a block diagram of a direct RF complex analog-to-digitalconverter (CADC) in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6B is a block diagram of a direct RF complex analog-to-digitalconverter (CADC) in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7A is a diagram of the CADC shown in FIG. 6 when the CADC inputclock is set at four times the RF carrier frequency;

FIG. 7B is a diagram of the CADC shown in FIG. 6 when the CADC inputclock is set at four times the RF carrier frequency;

FIG. 8 is a detailed block diagram of the phase clock generator;

FIG. 9 is a chart showing CADC timing;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a direct RF complex analog-to-digitalconverter (CADC) in accordance with a second embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 is a chart illustrating the frequency response of a complex SNICFIR filter;

FIG. 12 is a chart showing CADC aliasing protection;

FIG. 13 is a chart showing RMS distortion due to mismatched ADCs;

FIG. 14 is a chart showing complex SNIC filter response with/withouterrors;

FIG. 15 is a chart showing jitter signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) versusfrequency;

FIG. 16 is a chart illustrating CADC clutter rejection;

FIG. 17 is a chart showing the signal to quantization noise level versusthe number of ADC bits;

FIG. 18 is a chart that superimposes the SNR ratio limits forquantization noise on the SNR limits due to jitter;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram of a CADC architecture in accordance withanother embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a triangular FIR CADC architecture inaccordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 21 is a chart illustrating the frequency response of the triangularFIR filter CADC shown in FIG. 25;

FIG. 22 is a chart illustrating the alias protection of the triangularFIR filter CADC shown in FIG. 25; and

FIG. 23 is an example of an X-band radar processing architecture inaccordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 shows a schematic diagram of ultra-wideband direct sampling andbeamforming architecture using complex analog to digital converter, inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 25 shows a graph of an exemplary output of the UWB CADC integratedcircuit of FIG. 24.

FIG. 26 shows a graph of another exemplary output of UWB CADC integratedcircuit of FIG. 24 configured so as to simultaneously coverultra-wideband signals by forming concatenated frequency bands.

FIG. 27 shows a graph of a simulated frequency response of an X-bandCADC filter according to an aspect of the present invention.

FIGS. 28-29 show simulated results for a 10.1 GHz input signal for anindividual ADC output and CADC output respectively, prior to basebanddemodulation.

FIG. 30 shows an exemplary embodiment of CADC architecture according tothe principles of the present invention while FIG. 31 shows thearchitecture with the output data rate equal to the individual ADC clockrate.

FIG. 32 shows exemplary clutter rejection and dynamic range/SNRperformance of the system in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention.

FIG. 33 shows additional details of FIG. 24 associated with front endprocessing for a direct RF sampled element based array using time delaybeamforming according to the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 34 shows a graphical representation of numbers of FIR filteroperations as a function of frequency for each of various bandwidths.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present exemplaryembodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. An exemplary embodiment of a direct radiofrequency (RF) complex analog to digital converter (CADC) 10 of thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 1, and useful in implementing thedirect sampling and beamforming architecture as later described herein.

As embodied herein and depicted in FIG. 1, a diagrammatic representationof a CADC integrated circuit in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention is disclosed. The single chip CADC filters,demodulates and converts an RF signal to digital format in a singledevice, without the use of mixer or local oscillator (LO) circuits. Itwill be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art thatmodifications and variations can be made to the microelectronicimplementation of CADC integrated circuit 10. For example, traditionalradio frequency and microwave integrated circuits are typicallyimplemented using either silicon bipolar or gallium arsenidetechnologies. Silicon Germanium (SiGe) may also be used to implement thepresent invention. Further, in other embodiments of the presentinvention silicon CMOS technology is employed. However, because CMOStransistors are slower than GaAs transistors, the use of CMOS technologymay not be feasible at higher RF frequencies.

Radar receivers employing the present invention exhibit reduced cost,size, and weight. The single CADC-IC 10 of the present inventionprovides an increase in system reliability because fewer serialcomponents are needed in the overall design. Because mixer circuits arenot needed, EMI and inter-modulation product issues normally associatedwith mixers are eliminated. The CADC will also allow slower ADCs to beused when sampling high RF, such as X-band signals. Even though someintegrated circuits already operate at these rates, the digital wordsize is relatively small (on the order of 4 or 5 bits). The CADC willallow larger digital word sizes (up to 18 bits for example) because theinternal analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) operate at lower rates.

The CADC is based on the use of FIR filters with complex coefficients.These can be used to filter and demodulate a sampled signal of arbitrarybandwidth to baseband—without the use of a demodulator or mixer. TheCADC uses aliasing to effectively demodulate the signal of interest tobaseband, which obviates the complex demodulators which are often usedin sampled data systems. For high frequency applications, such as radar,this can eliminate the need for analog mixers often used to mixfrequencies to an Intermediate Frequency (IF) prior to analog to digitalconversion. Since the conversion rate need only be commensurate with thesignal bandwidth, slower ADCs can be used with respect to other directRF sampling methods. These slower ADCs tend to have more effectivenumber of bits (ENOB) than those which operate at higher rates,resulting in the wider dynamic range often desired in radarapplications.

The CADC architecture is more immune to ADC matching errors such asamplitude, phase, and DC offset, which are often encountered with themore traditional time-interleaved ADC arrays. The CADC also reduces theimpact of jitter because of its filtering characteristics. The filteringalso acts to increase the number of effective bits over that of eachADC.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a CADC in accordance with the presentinvention. CADC 10 includes a complex bandpass filter 30 coupled tosample rate reduction system 20. The output of CADC 10 is a complexbaseband digital signal having in-phase and quadrature signalcomponents. The ADCs in the rate reduction system 20 are slower, andtherefore accommodate a larger bit size in comparison to ADCs currentlyused to sample RF. Referring to FIG. 2, CADC 10 does not include anydemodulators or mixers. The RF signal is shifted to baseband by simplyfiltering with a complex filter at the reduced sampling rate to aliasthe band-of-interest (BOI) to baseband.

The weights for the complex filter are as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{{h(n)}*{e( {\frac{{j2}\; {\pi( {n - \frac{N - 1}{2}} )}}{F_{s}}\frac{f_{o}}{\;}} )}} & (1)\end{matrix}$

where f_(o) is the center frequency of the BOI, h(n) are the lowpassprototype FIR filter coefficients, and F_(s) is the sampling rate of thesampled input signal. If the sampling rate is an integer multiple of theBOI center frequency, the BOI becomes aliased (demodulated) to, andcentered about, zero frequency. Furthermore, if the sampling rate isspecifically 4 times the center frequency, every other coefficient inthe resulting complex filter is zero.

FIGS. 3A-3D are diagrams illustrating demodulation in accordance withthe present invention. As those of ordinary skill in the art understand,operations on real signals generally concern themselves with only theamplitude and phase characteristics of the signal, and not with theinformation about the carrier. Therefore, in most cases, only thecomplex envelope of the signal is of any concern. The complex envelopeof the signal of interest is typically obtained from the analytic signalby demodulating the RF input signal.

Accordingly, one of the primary objectives of signal processing relatesto the process of extracting the complex envelope from the real signal.In traditional systems, the RF signal is demodulated to baseband. Thebaseband signal is subsequently filtered by a lowpass filter. Since thelowpass filter is real, the filter response of the low-pass filter issymmetric about zero. As such, the low pass filter provides the analyticsignal at baseband. The negative frequency component has been eliminatedby the filter.

FIG. 3A shows the band limited real signal. The analytic signal issimply the positive frequency component of the real signal. The presentinvention employs a different approach.

Referring to FIG. 3B, the analytic signal is obtained by passing thereal signal through a Hilbert Transformer. The Hilbert Transform is anall-pass filter which imparts a −90° phase shift to the positivefrequency components of a real signal. However, further filtering mustbe performed to obtain the analytic portion of only the signals in theband of interest. Thus, the present invention combines the all-passHilbert Transform with a complex FIR filter.

FIG. 3C illustrates the demodulation of the filtered signal to baseband.As shown, this step yields the complex envelope of the signal.Demodulation is performed by reducing the sampling rate by an amountsufficient to alias the analytic signal to baseband. As shown, thecenter of the BOI will not reside exactly at zero, unless the samplingrate is an integer multiple of the center frequency (f_(o)). However,the entire BOI is disposed within the final processing band from −Fs/Mto +Fs/M, where M is the sampling rate reduction ratio.

The locations of the original frequencies in the BOI after sample ratereduction has occurred can be determined from the following formula:

$\begin{matrix}{f_{A} = {f_{i\; n} - {\frac{F_{s}}{M}{{INT}\lbrack \frac{{Mf}_{i\; n}}{F_{s}} \rbrack}}}} & (2)\end{matrix}$

where, f_(in) is the original input frequency of interest, f_(A) is thefrequency into which f_(in) becomes aliased, F_(s) is the Initialsampling rate, M is the sampling rate reduction ratio, and INT[] is theinteger part of the expression within the brackets []. Conversely, theinput frequencies which become aliased into a given alias frequency canbe determined from equation (3):

$\begin{matrix}{{{f_{i\; n_{k}} = {f_{A} + \frac{{kF}_{s}}{M}}};{k = {0,1,2}}},\ldots \mspace{11mu},{M - 1}} & (3)\end{matrix}$

As noted previously, a complex Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter isemployed by the present invention to filter and demodulate a signal tobaseband without the use of demodulators or mixers. The order of a FIRfilter may be approximated by:

$\begin{matrix}{N = {\frac{{{- 10}\mspace{11mu} {{Log}_{10}( {\delta_{1}\delta_{2}} )}} - 13}{14.6\; \Delta \; f} + 1}} & (4)\end{matrix}$

where, Δf is the normalized transition bandwidth, δ₁ is the passbandripple, and δ₂ is the stopband ripple.

Referring to FIG. 3D, Δf may be written in terms of kf_(o) BW, M, and Fsas:

$\begin{matrix}{{\Delta \; f} = {\frac{{F_{s}1M} - {BW}}{{kf}_{o}} = {\frac{{{kf}_{0}1M} - {BW}}{{kf}_{o}} = {\frac{1}{M} - \frac{BW}{{kf}_{o}}}}}} & (5)\end{matrix}$

When equation (5) is plugged into equation (4), the following expressionfor the FIR filter order is obtained:

$\begin{matrix}{N = {\frac{{{- 10}\mspace{11mu} {Log}_{10}} - ( {\delta_{1}\delta_{2}} ) - 13}{14.6\lbrack {\frac{1}{M} - \frac{BW}{{kf}_{o}}} \rbrack} + 1}} & (6)\end{matrix}$

Those skilled in the art will understand that a limit is implied on thesampling rate reduction ratio (M). The sampling rate cannot be reducedfrom kf_(o) to less than BW. This would violate the Nyquist criteria forcomplex sampling. This limit can be expressed as:

$\begin{matrix}{M_{\max} \leq \frac{{kf}_{o}}{BW}} & (7)\end{matrix}$

When k is set equal to four (4), every other filter coefficient is zero.For certain circumstances, this is a desirable result. Under thesecircumstances, the expression for N reduces to:

$\begin{matrix}{{N = {\frac{1}{\lbrack {\frac{1}{M} - \frac{BW}{4\; f_{o}}} \rbrack} + 1}}{where}{M \leq \frac{4\; f_{o}}{BW}}} & (8)\end{matrix}$

Accordingly, the complex FIR filter is employed to filter and shift areal bandlimited RF signal to baseband by simply reducing the samplingrate. The down conversion occurs by aliasing the RF signal to baseband.

Referring to FIG. 4, equation (6) is plotted for an in-band ripple of 1dB, and 40 dB of alias protection (stopband attenuation). FIG. 4 is aplot of filter order, N, vs. BW/f_(o) for a k of 4 and for various M.Note that in accordance with [1], a k of 4 results in every other filtercoefficient being zero.

FIG. 5A is a chart showing the frequency response of a low pass FIRfilter. FIG. 5B is a chart showing the frequency response of a complexFIR filter. Equation (1) provided above provides an expression of theweights of a complex FIR filter. Those of ordinary skill in the art willunderstand that when this expression is multiplied by a lowpass filterweight, the frequency spectrum is shifted.

As embodied herein and depicted in FIG. 6A, a block diagram of a directRF complex analog-to-digital converter (CADC) 10 in accordance with afirst embodiment of the present invention is disclosed. CADC 10 includesrate reduction system 20, which is comprised of N low speed analog todigital converters (ADCs) 200, N being an integer number. Each ADC iscoupled to register 202. Each register 202 is coupled to an in-phasemultiplier (301-I . . . 30N-I) and a quadrature multiplier (301-Q . . .30N-Q). The digital values are multiplied by a complex filter weight asgiven by equation (1). The digital sample equals “b” bits of sampleddata, “b” being an integer number. Typically, “b” is 8 bits or greater,but depends upon the state-of-the-art and the sampling rate. In-phasemultipliers 301-1 . . . 30N-I are coupled to summer circuit 310.Quadrature multipliers 301-Q . . . 30N-Q are coupled to summer circuit312.

The device of FIG. 6A operates as follows. The carrier frequency f_(o)of the RF is typically in the gigahertz range. In one embodiment, thedevice is employed in an X-band system having a carrier frequency ofapproximately 9.0 GHz. The RF signal has a signal bandwidth BW. Theinitial effective sampling rate F_(s) functions as the system clock, andis equal to kf_(o), where k is an integer. The kf_(o) clock input isshown in FIG. 1. A clock phase circuit, not shown in FIG. 6A, generatesN-phase clocks. The time delay between the rising edge of adjacent phaseclock pulses is, of course, the reciprocal of the initial effectivesampling rate F_(s). However, while the RF signal is sampled at theeffective sampling rate F_(s), each phase clock causes its correspondingADC 200 to sample the RF signal at a rate equal to F_(s)/M. Accordingly,the phase clocks have different phases, i.e., are time skewed such thatthe N-ADCs sequentially sample and output a digital sample that, whentaken together, represent the RF waveform being sampled at a ratecommensurate with the carrier frequency. However, by employing N-phaseclocks that sample at a rate equal to F_(s)/M, relatively low-speed ADCsmay be employed, simplifying the circuit design. A complex FIR filter isimplemented by weighting and summing the ADC outputs.

The number of ADCs is equal to the sample rate reduction ratio, M, to beimplemented. As described previously, the aliasing functionalityimplemented in the present invention serves to demodulate, or mix, theband of interest to baseband. Note that all ADC output must be stored inregister 202 in order to allow each ADC to have the full sample period(M/F_(s)) for analog to digital conversion.

The in-phase and quadrature outputs of summer 310, 312 may be directedinto a digital signal processor (DSP) for further processing. Forexample, the DSP may further reduce the sampling rate, and additionalfiltering may be performed as well. The filtering may further attenuatethose frequencies or frequency bands which would become aliased tobaseband when the sampling rate is reduced.

FIG. 6B illustrates a block diagram of a direct RF complexanalog-to-digital converter (CADC) 10 in accordance with anotherembodiment of the present invention. Like FIG. 6A, CADC 10 of FIG. 6Bagain includes rate reduction system 20, which is comprised of N lowspeed analog to digital converters (ADCs) 200, N being an integernumber. Each ADC is again coupled to a register 202. Each register 202is again coupled to an in-phase multiplier (301-I . . . 30N-I) and aquadrature multiplier (301-Q . . . 30N-Q). The digital values aremultiplied by a complex filter weight as given by equation (1). Thedigital sample equals “b” bits of sampled data, “b” being an integernumber. Typically, “b” is 8 bits or greater, but depends upon thestate-of-the-art and the sampling rate. In-phase multipliers 301-I . . .30N-I are coupled to summer circuit 310. Quadrature multipliers 301-Q .. . 30N-Q are coupled to summer circuit 312.

Differently, the embodiment of FIG. 6B includes a plurality of delayelements 201, each having an output and coupled in series to the RFsignal input, wherein each delay 201 output is configured to provide theinputted RF signal with a temporal delay corresponding to a differentnumber of the delay elements. For example, ADC₂ receives the input RFsignal with a delay corresponding to the temporal delay introduced byDELAY₁. ADC₃ receives the input RF signal with a delay corresponding tothe temporal delay introduced by DELAY₁+DELAY₂. ADC₄ receives the inputRF signal with a delay corresponding to the temporal delay introduced byDELAY₁+DELAY₂+DELAY₃. And, ADC_(M) receives the input RF signal with adelay corresponding to the sum of the temporal delays of all of theupstream delay elements 201.

By delaying the RF signals input to the ADCs 200 relative to oneanother, a common clock signal CLK may be used in lieu of phased clocksignals φ1-φN. This may advantageously allow for a conventionalintegrated circuit that incorporates multiple ADCs but uses only asingle clocking input to be used.

Each delay element 201 may take any suitable form, such as an analogdelay line to provide a temporal skew, such as a predetermined length ofcabling, for example. By way of non-limiting example only, where a 100MHz clock is used for ADC's 200, roughly 10 nanoseconds may elapsebetween samples. In such a case, it may be desirable to introduce anabout 2 nanosecond delay with each delay element 201. A predeterminedlength of cabling, such as about 2 feet for example, may be used toprovide such a delay. Alternatively, sample and hold circuitry analogousto that described herein-below clocked to integer phases of a clocksignal, as is described in connection with FIG. 6A, may be used.

Referring to FIG. 7A, a modified diagram of the CADC shown in FIG. 6A isshown. In this embodiment, the CADC input clock is set at four times theRF carrier frequency. The registers 202 are placed at the output of thefilter multipliers 301-30M. The registers may be placed at themultiplier output in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6A, as well. When k isset equal to four (4), every other FIR filter coefficient will be zero.This reduces the number of multipliers by a factor of two.

Referring now also to FIG. 7B, a corresponding modified diagram of theCADC shown in FIG. 6 b is shown. Again, the CADC input clock is set atfour times the RF carrier frequency. The registers 202 are placed at theoutput of the filter multipliers 301-30M. The registers may be placed atthe multiplier output in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7A, as well. Whenk is set equal to four (4), every other FIR filter coefficient will bezero. This reduces the number of multipliers by a factor of two. Alsoagain, by delaying the RF signals input to the ADCs 200 relative to oneanother, a common clock signal CLK may be used in lieu of phased clocksignals φ1-φN. This may advantageously allow for a conventionalintegrated circuit that incorporates multiple ADCs but uses only asingle clocking input to be used.

FIG. 8 is a detailed block diagram of the phase clock generator. Thephase clock generator 210 is implemented using address circuit 212 andM-divide by M circuits. In one embodiment, the address circuitincrements from, i.e. binary 000 to 111 (in the case where M=8). Ofcourse, the addressing may be adjusted depending on the value of M, orif there are additional registers 202 that may need to be clocked.However, such adjustments are well within the skill of those of ordinaryskill in the art. The addressing circuit also includes additional gatinglogic such that the first divide by M circuit is only enabled whenaddress is “000.” The next divided by M circuit is only enabled when theaddress equals “001.” The count increments until each divide by Mcircuit is enabled. The divide by M circuit may be implemented as aflip-flop. If the address enable is high, the input clock latches thehigh input and a single clock pulse is directed to the flip-flop output.Accordingly, one clock pulse is synchronously output by one and only onedivide by M circuit for each clock period of F_(s). Those skilled in thepertinent art will recognize that there are many ways of implementingphase clock generator 210, including implementations which employ analogdelay lines to provide the appropriate clock time skew. The abovedescription being mere a representative example of one implementation.

FIG. 9 is a chart showing CADC timing. FIG. 9 provides a graphicalillustration of the relationship of input clock kf₀ and each of thephase clocks (Φ1-Φ8). FIG. 9, of course, shows an implementation whereinM=8. As shown, there are eight phase clock pulses and an additionalclock pulse to latch registers 202. The sample period for each phaseclock is M/kf₀, which is M times the effective sample period of theinput clock. CADC 10 also includes an output buffer configured to storethe in-phase and quadrature digital signals (not shown in FIG. 6 or FIG.7). Phase clock circuit 210 may be employed to latch this buffer circuitas well.

As embodied herein and depicted in FIG. 10, a block diagram of a directRF complex analog-to-digital converter (CADC) in accordance with asecond embodiment of the present invention is disclosed. In thisembodiment, the low speed ADCs are replaced by sample and hold circuits230. The timing of the sample and hold circuits is identical to thetiming employed by the low speed ADCs shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7. On theother hand, sample and hold circuits 230 do not provide a digital outputword. The sample and hold circuit merely samples the amplitude of the RFsignal when enabled by its corresponding phase clock. Subsequently, thesampled analog output is multiplied by a complex coefficient valuestored in the weighting circuits 330, 332. Weighting circuit 330provides in-phase analog signal samples and weighting circuit 332provides quadrature analog signal values. The in-phase signals aresummed by summer circuit 340. The quadrature signals are likewise summedby summer circuit 342. The summed analog in-phase signals are convertedinto digital values by directing the signals into low speed in-phase ADC350. In similar fashion, the summed analog quadrature signals areconverted into digital values by directing the quadrature signals intolow speed quadrature ADC 352. Finally, the in-phase digital basebandsignal is clocked into shift register 360 and the quadrature basebandbit stream is clocked into register 362.

The sampling rate is reduced to clock either the sample and holdcircuits 230 or ADCs 200 at a rate commensurate with the signalbandwidth. In these architectures, the sampling rate is reduced by afactor at least equal to the size of the FIR filter. Otherwise, eventswill overlap. For example, the ADCs (or S&Hs) are clocked at 1/kf_(o).The cycle time through all the FIR filter taps would then be N/kf_(o).This cycle is then repeated at a rate M/kf_(o). In this case thefollowing inequality must be satisfied:

N/kf ₀ ≦M/kf ₀   (9)

Therefore, N≦M   (10)

Accordingly, N can be no larger than the sample rate reduction ratio, M.This constraint places limitations on the amount of filtering that canbe achieved, specifically to reduce aliasing for the architecturepreviously described.

Assuming that the narrowest bandwidth filter that can be implemented isa Sinc FIR filter (i.e., a filter whose coefficients are all equal),then a simple analysis can be performed to determine the aliasprotection that the CADC can provide. The frequency response of a Sincfilter can be written as:

$\begin{matrix}{{H(f)} = \frac{\sin ( {\pi \; {Nf}} )}{\pi \; {Nf}}} & (11)\end{matrix}$

For a sampled data system, the actual response is the summation of aninfinite number of Sinc functions spaced at the sampling rate. Thisresponse is given in [18] as:

$\begin{matrix}{{H(f)} = \frac{\sin ( {\pi \; {Nf}} )}{N\; {\sin ( {\pi \; f} )}}} & (12)\end{matrix}$

and is often referred to as a “Snic” function, and is plotted in FIG. 11for N=8.

Referring to FIG. 12, a chart showing CADC aliasing protection is shown.In the CADC architecture, if it is assumed that the sampling rate is 4times the frequency of interest, then the sampled image will also occurat 0.75 times the sampling rate Fs. The snic function has a zero at 0.75Fs, so images around this will experience attenuation. This attenuationwill correspond to the alias protection the filter will provide. If B isthe bandwidth of the signal of interest, then the minimum amount ofattenuation, δ, will correspond to the frequency of ±B/2 away from 0.75Fs. This is equivalent to being ±B/2 away from 0.5 Fs in the lowpassfilter prototype and can be expressed as:

$\begin{matrix}{\delta = \frac{\sin\lbrack {N\frac{\pi}{2}( {1 - \frac{B}{F_{s}}} )} \rbrack}{N\; {\sin\lbrack {\frac{\pi}{2}( {1 - \frac{B}{F_{s}}} )} \rbrack}}} & (13)\end{matrix}$

where δ=Attenuation of alias image at band edges, B is the signalBandwidth, F_(s) is the sampling rate, and N is the order of the filter.Normalized to the signal frequency, f_(o), the attenuation becomes:

$\begin{matrix}{\delta = \frac{\sin\lbrack {N\frac{\pi}{2}( {1 - \frac{B}{{kf}_{o}}} )} \rbrack}{N\; {\sin\lbrack {\frac{\pi}{2}( {1 - \frac{B}{{kf}_{o}}} )} \rbrack}}} & (14)\end{matrix}$

Equation 14 is plotted in FIG. 13 for various filter orders, with k=4,as a function of percent bandwidth of the signal frequency. As shown byequation (14), frequency characteristics are related to the samplingrate. The location of the alias image null (0.75 Fs) may be selected byproperly selecting the sampling rate. Selecting the null to correspondto the instantaneous signal frequency yields benefits. The instantaneousbandwidth of the signal is often quite narrow when compared to theoperational band. In radar systems this allows frequency hopping of thesignals. By localizing on the instantaneous frequencies, more aliasimage protection would be provided than if the entire operationalbandwidth were used. A signal bandwidth of 5 MHz with frequency of 450MHz (UHF) for example, represents about a 1% bandwidth to frequencyratio. FIG. 12 shows that this technique provides at least 48 dB ofalias image rejection.

Errors may be introduced from several sources. These errors include ADCoffset and mismatch error, timing jitter, and quantization. The ADCmismatch includes both amplitude and phase mismatch, and will in generalimpact the frequency response of the CADC FIR filter. Timing jitterbasically results in an increase in the ADC noise floor, and may impactADC dynamic range and system clutter cancellation performance. Offsetdifferences and mismatches in the ADC may also impact performance. Inthe more typical time-interleaved ADC architectures, the time-skewedoutput of each ADC is multiplexed to construct a signal sampled at thehigher Fs rate. ADC mismatch error in may produce spurious artifacts inthe output spectrum because the mismatch errors will tend to repeat asthe array of ADCs are cycled through. However, in the present invention,ADC amplitude and phase mismatches do not cause spectral artifactsbecause the errors are lumped together in the filter output. Instead,the mismatches may manifest themselves as perturbations to the frequencyresponse of the FIR filter. The net result will be a somewhat differentfrequency response than what was expected.

Referring to FIG. 13, a chart showing RMS distortion due to mismatchedADCs is shown. The following analysis assumes that the channel matcherrors are uniformly distributed, and independent from channel tochannel. The filtering process essentially averages the aforementionederrors. The variance of the errors decreases as a function the gain ofthe FIR filter. Assuming that the phase and amplitude errors areuniformly distributed, their variance is given by

$\begin{matrix}{\sigma_{\delta \; A}^{2} = \frac{\delta \; A^{2}}{12}} & (15) \\{{and}{\mspace{11mu} \;}{by}} & \; \\{\sigma_{\delta \; \theta}^{2} = \frac{\sin^{2}\delta \; \theta}{12}} & (16)\end{matrix}$

If it assumed these errors are also independent, their variances can besummed to obtain the impact of both on the frequency filter sidelobelevel error (SLLE), which is given as:

$\begin{matrix}{{S\; L\; L\; E_{dB}} = {{10\; {\log_{10}\lbrack \frac{\lbrack {{\delta \; A^{2}} + {\sin^{2}( {\delta \; \theta} )}} \rbrack}{12} \rbrack}} - G_{dB}}} & (17)\end{matrix}$

where SLLE_(dB) the frequency sidelobe error level in dB, δθ is the spanof phase errors (radians), G_(dB) is the filter gain in dB, and δA isthe span in dB over which the amplitudes of all ADC channels mustreside. For δA given in dB, the following conversion translates this toδA in equation 17:

$\begin{matrix}{{\delta \; A} = \frac{2( {10^{\frac{\delta \; A_{dB}}{20}} - 1} )}{10^{\frac{\delta \; A_{dB}}{20}} + 1}} & (18)\end{matrix}$

For small phase errors, sin²δθ≈δθ² and for FIR Filters, the gain can beapproximated by G_(dB)=10 log N, so the error can be written as

$\begin{matrix}{{S\; L\; L\; E_{dB}} = {{10\; {\log_{10}\lbrack \frac{\lbrack {{\delta \; A^{2}} + ( {\delta \; \theta} )^{2}} \rbrack}{12} \rbrack}} - {10\; \log \; N}}} & (19)\end{matrix}$

This is plotted in FIG. 13 with for filter order of 32. Here, the phasematch has been converted from radians to degrees. The dots superimposedon the graph are the results of simulation.

Referring to FIG. 14, a chart showing complex SNIC filter responsewith/without errors is shown. The errors described above will generallyadd in a root sum square fashion to the SLL of the idea filter response.Accordingly, FIG. 14 an example of a 32^(nd) order filter response withno mismatch versus a filter with ±2 dB of amplitude mismatch and ±30degrees of phase mismatch.

Although these errors will not result in spectral artifacts, they mayimpact the resulting match between the real and imaginary components.These errors can impact the quadrature characteristic of thisrelationship, and will result in less image rejection than anticipated.These errors must be kept low enough so that the impact is tolerable.

Another error that may impact any ADC implementation is illustrated byFIG. 15. FIG. 15 is a chart showing jitter signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)versus frequency. Timing jitter causes errors in the sampling clockwhich in turn causes error in the signal to be sampled. Jitter perturbsthe normally uniform spacing of the sampling clock, and generallyresults in an increase in the ADC noise floor. The total jitter noisepower for a sinusoidal signal may be expressed as:

P _(j)=2π² f _(o) ² A ²σ_(j) ²   (20)

where A is the amplitude of the signal, σ_(j) is the standard deviationof the jitter with 2πf_(o)σ<<1. The resulting signal to noise ratio(SNR) due to jitter can be expressed by:

$\begin{matrix}{{S\; N\; R} = {{10\; \log \frac{A^{2}12}{2\; \pi^{2}f_{i\; n}^{2}A^{2}\sigma_{j}^{2}}} = {20\; {\log ( {2\; \pi \; f_{o}\sigma_{j}} )}\mspace{14mu} {dB}}}} & (21)\end{matrix}$

Since the CADC includes a filter, this ratio improves by about one halfthe reciprocal of the normalized filter bandwidth, or about 10 log (N/2)dB to become:

SNR _(j)=−20 log(2πf _(o)σ_(j))+10 log(N/2_(FIR))   (22)

Equation 22 is plotted in FIG. 15 for a filter order of 32.

Referring to FIG. 16, Jitter will also have an impact on the amount ofclutter rejection that can be achieved. The expression for the clutterrejection ratio due to jitter is as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{I_{j} = {{- 10}\; {\log( {\frac{2}{3}( {\pi \; \sigma} )^{2}B_{e}^{2}} )}}} & (23)\end{matrix}$

where, B_(e)=√{square root over (B²+12f_(o) ²)},I_(j) is the clutterrejection ratio in dB due to jitter, B is the instantaneous bandwidth,σ_(j) is RMS jitter, and f_(o) is the RF signal center frequency. SinceCADC 10 includes filtering, this ratio will be improved upon by roughlyhalf of the reciprocal of the normalized bandwidth of the FIR filter, orabout 10 log(N_(FIR)/2):

$\begin{matrix}{I_{j} = {{{- 10}\; {\log( {\frac{2}{3}( {\pi \; \sigma_{j}} )^{2}B_{e}^{2}} )}} + {10\; {\log ( {N_{FIR}/2} )}}}} & (24)\end{matrix}$

FIG. 16 plots the clutter rejection ratio versus frequency for variousjitter values and two bandwidths. The FIR filter order is 32. Note thatabove a few hundred MHz, the rejection ratio is relatively independentof bandwidth. For f_(o)>>B:

I _(j)=−20 log(2√{square root over (2)}πσ_(j) f _(o))+10 log(N _(FIR)/2)  (25)

Quantization noise is a factor in any ADC architecture. FIG. 17 is achart showing the signal to quantization noise level versus the numberof ADC bits. the noise attributable to quantizing a signal for a singleADC is given as:

$\begin{matrix}{\sigma_{q}^{2} = {\frac{q^{2}}{12} = \frac{2^{{- 2}{({b - 1})}}}{12}}} & (26)\end{matrix}$

where b equals the number of bits of the ADC, q refers to thequantization level, and σ_(q) ² is the quantization noise powerreferenced to maximum signal amplitude. This expression may be convertedto a signal to quantization noise ratio by inverting equation (26) toobtain:

SNR _(q)=10 log(12*2^(2(b−1)))   (27)

This will improve due to the FIR filter by roughly half of thereciprocal of the normalized filter bandwidth, or 10 log (N/2) toobtain:

SNR _(q)=10 log(12*2^(2(b−1)))+10 log(N/2)   (28)

The SNR_(q) is plotted in FIG. 17 for various filter orders, N, andrepresents noise which contributes to the total noise of the CADCoutput, and can generally be assumed independent and added to othernoise such as that due to jitter in a root-sum-square fashion.

FIG. 18 superimposes the SNR ratio limits for quantization noise on theSNR limits due to jitter. Again, a FIR filter order of 32 is assumed.These curves can be used as asymptotes of the total noise due toquantization and jitter. For example, at a 1 ps jitter at 100 MHzprovide an SNR of 76 dB. If an 8 bit ADC were used, the SNR would belimited to just 65 dB.

As embodied herein and depicted in FIG. 19, a block diagram of a CADCarchitecture in accordance with another embodiment of the presentinvention is disclosed. In the CADC architecture described above, theFIR filter order cannot be any greater than the sampling rate reductionratio. This is because the resulting timing would cause overlappingsampling conditions that the architecture cannot accommodate. Thearchitecture shown in FIG. 19 eliminates this constraint.

The sample rate reduction system includes M-RF sampling circuitsconfigured to directly sample the RF signal at the sampling rate. TheM-RF sampling circuits 200 may be analog to digital converters or sampleand hold circuits. The complex bandpass filter includes M-complexbandpass filter circuits. The filter order is N, where N>M.

Each bandpass circuit includes a weighting circuit (350-356) in serieswith a summer circuit (360-366) and an output sample and hold circuit200 (or ADC). The R-complex bandpass filter circuits are interconnectedin series such that an output of the first sample and hold circuit 250is coupled to an input of the summer circuit 362 of the subsequentcomplex bandpass filter circuit. The weighting circuits are configuredto multiply each of the M-sample outputs by a predetermined filterweight value to thereby provide M-weighted sample output values. Thesummer circuits are configured to sum the M-weighted sample outputvalues and the output values provided by the preceding complex bandpassfilter circuit.

In this example, the sampling rate reduction ratio, M, is 4, while thefilter order, N, is 16. The alternate architecture stores intermediatepartial weighted sums of each of the M samples of sampling circuits 200.Groups of M partial sums are added together in sequence to obtain theoverall filter length.

The architecture of FIG. 19 employs fewer than N S&H circuits (or ADCs)to perform the partial summing. In this example, only seven S&H, or ADCs200, are needed to implement a 16^(th) order filter. In general, thenumber of S&H (or ADC) this alternate architecture will use N_(S&H), isgiven as:

$\begin{matrix}{N_{{S\&}H} = {M + \frac{N}{M} - 1}} & (29)\end{matrix}$

Of course, most of this architecture can be implemented digitally, inwhich case, only M ADC are required, and a means to store the subsequentdata. This time-skewed data can then be operated upon to implementarbitrary filter orders, N. This architecture will enable significantlymore alias rejection than the original concept which limits the filtersize to N≦M.

As embodied herein and depicted in FIG. 20, a block diagram of atriangular FIR CADC architecture in accordance with yet anotherembodiment of the present invention is disclosed. When a uniformlyweighted filter is convolved with itself, a filter or order 2N-1 withtriangular weights is generated.

FIG. 21 is a chart illustrating the frequency response of the triangularFIR filter CADC shown in FIG. 25. The impact of this in the frequencydomain is to basically square the frequency response, which doubles thealias attenuation in dB as shown in FIG. 21. This is superimposed on auniform FIR response for comparison.

FIG. 22 is a chart illustrating the alias protection of the triangularFIR filter CADC shown in FIG. 21. This chart shows the correspondingalias protection as a function of percent bandwidth. Note thesignificant improvement in alias protection when compared to FIG. 12.

Referring to FIG. 23, a radar processing architecture in accordance withyet another embodiment of the present invention is disclosed. In thisexample, an X-band radar processing architecture 100 is shown. System100 includes an antenna (not shown) that is configured to direct anX-band signal into pre-amplifier 102. The X-band signal has, forexample, a center frequency at 9 GHz. The RF signal is subsequentlydirected into a bandpass filter (BPF) 104. BPF 104 attenuatesfrequencies outside the BOI. The filtered signal is then directed intoCADC 10. Of course, any of the embodiments previously discussed isappropriate for use in system 10. In the manner described above, atwelve (12) bit digital signal is provided to digital signal processor800. In this example, the bandwidth of the digital signal isapproximately 200 MHz. The actual bandwidth of the signal-of-interest isonly 3 MHz. Thus, further processing is required. Accordingly, thein-phase and quadrature components of the digital signal are directedinto in-phase FIR filter 802 and quadrature FIR filter 804. Finally, thesampling rate of the filtered digital signal is further reduced and adigital signal having an 18 bit word size is generated. The filtereddigital signal is analyzed by the radar detection processing. Thoseskilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may beapplied to any radar band, including UHF, L-band, S-band, C-band,X-band, Ku-band, K-band, Ka-band, V-band, W-band, or higher bands.

Referring now to FIG. 24, there is shown a diagrammatic representationand application of ultra-wideband direct sampling and beamformingarchitecture using a complex analog to digital converter (UWB CADC)arrangement embodied as an integrated circuit 10, in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention and utilizing the principles of theCADC depicted in FIG. 1, and structures generally described hereinabove, for example. An RF input 101 may be received from any typical RFreceiving device, such as a radar or electronic warfare (EW) device. RFinput 101 is received by an array 103 of time-staggered ADCs 102. RFinput 101 may be delayed to time-stagger each ADC 102, input in a signaldelaying fashion, such as a clock phase circuit to generate N-phaseclocks, wherein N equals the number of time-staggered ADCs 102, orincluding a plurality of delay elements to delay the input of the RFsignal to each ADC 103, by one clock pulse, for example. Thus, eitherthe RF input or the clock input may be delayed from one ADC to the nextso as to implement a desired time-stagger. The number of ADCs 102 isequal to the sample rate reduction ratio N to be implemented. Thealiasing functionality implemented in the present invention serves todemodulate, or mix, the band of interest to baseband.

The output 104 of each ADC is provided in parallel to each of a bank ofcomplex Finite Input Response (FIR) filters 105. In this manner,multiple bands of interest may be simultaneously selected bymultiplexing the same ADC output 104, to a plurality of digital complexFIR filters, 105, running in parallel. Simultaneous beams can be formedat any frequency within the operational band whereby choices are notlimited by local oscillator settings in mixing stages. The output fromeach of the plurality of FIR filters 105 creates a series of steerablebeams 106. Additional ADC hardware is not required for beamforming. Eachbeam, depicted as reference numerals 107-111, is independently achievedsolely via digital signal processing. A single ADC array 103 withmultiple complex FIR filters 105 configured according to the exemplaryembodiment, produces multiple band, independently steered beams 106. Bythe implementation of multiple complex FIR filters, 105, multiple beams106 are thus formed directly and essentially immediately without thedrawbacks previously discussed.

Referring to FIG. 25 there is shown a graph of an exemplary output ofUWB CADC integrated circuit 10 of FIG. 24. Each beam's bandwidth (e.g.beam 2 labeled 301), correlates to a beam as depicted by beams 107-111(FIG. 24). Each BW is limited by (e.g. less than) the sampling frequencyFs of the individual ADC. It may be observed that the UWB CADCintegrated circuit 10 is well suited to forming multiple beams anywherewithin the operational band.

Referring to FIG. 26, there is shown a graph of another exemplary outputof UWB CADC integrated circuit 10 of FIG. 24 configured so as tosimultaneously cover ultra-wideband signals by forming concatenatedfrequency bands. Each beam's bandwidth, 401, correlates to a beam,107-111 (FIG. 24). Multiband FIR filters operate on the ADC data to formindividual bands whose bandwidth is limited by the moderately lowsampling rate of the individual ADCs, thereby allowing the entire bandto be covered by the UWB CADCintegrated circuit configuration.

Referring to FIG. 27, there is shown a graph of a simulated frequencyresponse of an X-band CADC filter according to an aspect of the presentinvention. The present simulation represents an integrated circuitimplementing 16 ADCs with 12 bits per ADC, an individual ADC samplingrate of 1 GHz, an initial effective sampling rate of 16 GHz, an ADCclock-to-clock delay time of 62.5 picoseconds (ps), a down-samplingratio of 16, a test signal frequency of 10.1 GHz, and a demodulatedfrequency of 100 MHz. It may be observed (ref. numeral 50) that alltuning within the operational band is performed digitally without theneed for agile local oscillators.

FIGS. 28-29 show simulated results for a 10.1 GHz input signal for anindividual ADC output (FIG. 28) as well as the CADC output (FIG. 29)prior to baseband demodulation. Placement of a CADC architecture asdescribed herein on each receiver enables the system to achieve a higherdynamic range over a wide instantaneous bandwidth.

Hence, a system has been described herein that requires no IF and nomixers but rather samples the RF signal directly and demodulates tobaseband in one step via aliasing using complex A/D converter (CADC).The CADC processing may be applied to span a band of interest by simplyadding additional digital channels to a single array of time-skewedADCs. This enables not only ultra-wideband processing but also multiplesimultaneous beamforming anywhere within the sampled frequency band.That is, the CADC enables direct RF basebanded sampling of radarwaveforms where an ADC is clocked only at the output sampling rate,approximately equal to the instantaneous bandwidth. This allows forlarger word size ADCs even for high frequency RF signals. By usingaliasing the system provides a direct digital basebanded I and Q outputwithout the need for mixers. FIR filters with complex weights are usedto filter and demodulate signals to baseband without demodulators ormixers. The complex FIR filter operates with one or more complexcoefficients for each of N separately clocked ADC or S/H (sample andhold) devices. Each ADC or S&H output is weighted in accordance with FIRfilter coefficients. The resulting products are summed and operationsperformed at the output sampling rate. FIG. 30 shows an exemplaryembodiment of CADC architecture while FIG. 31 shows the architecturewith the output data rate equal to the individual ADC clock rate ratherthan the high effective sampling rate.

According to embodiments of the present invention the system describedherein provides direct sampling of received RF signal: requires noanalog down-conversion while eliminating the need for mixers, localoscillators, and tunable analog filters. All tuning is performeddigitally and may be implemented as a system-on-a-chip (SOC) at theelement or sub-array level. The invention supports formation of multiplesimultaneous beams at frequencies anywhere within the operational bandwith digital beamforming allowing for adaptive beamforming or adaptivebeam interpolation. The inventive architecture is scalable such thatimprovement in performance of constituent ADCs should improveperformance of the overall CADC architecture.

The beamforming characteristics are achieved through a simplifiedarchitecture when compared to other approaches, and wherein the outputis a complex basebanded digitized signal without the use of IF stages.Furthermore, the architecture of the present invention is more tolerantof clock jitter and A/D mismatches than other approaches with A/Doperation at output sampling rates, commensurate with instantaneous BW,instead of the input (RF) rate. Such concepts and advantages aredepicted with regard to FIG. 32, for example. This enablesimplementation with slower A/D devices with more ENOB. Still further,shaping of noise spectrum enables higher dynamic range and imagerejection. The high-frequency, wide-bandwidth digital beamforming may beimplemented with Off-the-Shelf ADCs and the Complex FIR filter canimpart a time-delay and/or phase shift to the sampled element data witha resolution commensurate with the effective high sampling rate. Forexample, by simply shifting the digital filter coefficients from one ADCto the next in the time-staggered array, a time delay is conferred onthe output data with a resolution corresponding to the high effectivesampling rate of the CADC. Such high resolution true time delays areideal for implementing wideband beamforming in a digital phased array.With this high resolution, much of the time delays for beamforming canbe implemented by just selecting the appropriate sample, with nointerpolation required. As discussed above, such implementation requiresno additional computations for beamforming other than adding togetherthe filter outputs, which may be accomplished in a single step, or in adistributed (partial sum) architecture. In this manner a single array ofADCs can support the simultaneous formation of multiple independentlysteerable beams at any frequency covered by the CADC. FIG. 33illustrates additional details associated with front end processing fora direct RF sampled element based array using time delay beamformingaccording to the principles of the present invention. It is understoodthat the circuitry depicted therein may be implemented on a single chipor multiple chips, for example, and that the beamforming is simplifiedto be essentially an adder of the filter outputs according to an aspectof the present invention.

Thus, time-staggered ADCs in combination with a digital FIR filterdirectly sample RF signals advantageously eliminates mixers and localoscillators, and the system architecture enables each ADC to run at amodest rate corresponding to the instantaneous bandwidth of interest.The system may be configured to support instantaneous bandwidths on theorder of 1 GHz or more and time-delay and phase-shift beamforming may beimplemented within the CADC filter wherein the number of computationsrequired is minimized and wherein multiple beams are simultaneouslyformed in space and/or frequency solely through digital processing. FIG.34 shows a graphical representation of numbers of FIR filter operationsas a function of frequency for each of various bandwidths. As showntherein, the present invention enables element based beamforming thatuses high processing rates, but wherein processing may be implementedwith conventional FPGAs.

While the foregoing describes exemplary embodiments and implementations,it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A signal processor comprising: a plurality of analog to digitalconverters (ADCs) adapted to receive a an RF signal; a means fordelaying the RF input to each of the analog to digital converters, saidanalog to digital converters directly sampling said RF input signal at abaseband sampling frequency and generating a digital output signal aplurality of complex finite input response (FIR) filters for receivingthe corresponding digital output signal from the plurality of analog todigital converters including a means for multiplying each digital outputsignal by at least one complex filter weight; wherein each of the FIRfilters generates a corresponding output beam of a given frequencyaccording to said baseband sampling frequency.
 2. The processor of claim1, wherein the means for delaying the RF input comprises a plurality ofdelay elements to time-stagger each analog to digital converter output.3. The processor of claim 1, wherein the means for delaying the RF inputis a clock phase circuit.
 4. The processor of claim 3, wherein the clockphase circuit generates N-phase clock periods, wherein N equals thenumber of time-staggered analog to digital converters.
 5. The processorof claim 1, wherein the number of analog to digital converters is equalto a sample rate reduction ratio N.
 6. The processor of claim 1, whereinone analog to digital converter is multiplexed into N FIR filters whereN equals a sample rate reduction ratio N.
 7. A method for converting aradio frequency (RF) signal into independently steered beams, the methodcomprising: time staggering a conversion of the RF signal to a pluralityof digital signals; multiplying each digital signal by at least onecomplex filter weight; to create associated independently steered beams.8. The method of claim 7, wherein time staggering results in a pluralityof digital signals each time separated by at least one M-phase clockcycle.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one M-phase clockcycle is at a sampling rate that is an integer multiple of the RFcarrier frequency to generate a plurality of M-sample digital signals.10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the M-sample digital signalsare sampled at a rate equal to the sampling rate divided by M, M beingan integer sample reduction value.
 11. The method of claim 9, furtherincluding filtering a plurality of M-sample digital signals to formindividual bands whose bandwidth is limited by the sampling rate ofindividual analog to digital converters, thereby allowing a full band ofRF frequencies.
 12. A method for converting a radio frequency (RF)signal input into a digital beamformed signal, the RF signal having abandwidth centered at a carrier frequency, the method comprising:directly sampling an RF data signal at each of a plurality of analog todigital converters at a sampling rate that is an integer multiple of thecarrier frequency to generate M-sample digital outputs, each of theM-sample digital outputs being sampled at a reduced sampling rate equalto the sampling rate divided by M, M being an integer sample reductionvalue; and multiplying each sample digital output by at least onecomplex filter weight to provide a weighted sample output and combiningsaid weighted sampled outputs to generate a baseband digital beamformedsignal at said sampling rate.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising adjusting the beam direction of the digital beamformed signalaccording to said complex filter weights.
 14. A system comprising: anradio frequency (RF) signal input; a plurality of time-skewed,undersampled complex analog to digital converters (ADCs) configured inparallel and responsive to an RF data signal from said input forgenerating sampled digital outputs according to a baseband samplingrate; a plurality of complex finite input response (FIR) filtersconfigured in parallel, wherein each complex FIR filter receives saiddigital outputs provided by the plurality of ADCs and generates acorresponding output beam of a given frequency according to saidbaseband sampling rate.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein each saidoutput beam has a bandwidth according to the sampling rate of acorresponding said ADC.
 16. The system of claim 14, further comprising amultiplexer upstream of said FIR filters for multiplexing digitaloutputs from selected ones of said ADCs to corresponding ones of saiddigital CADC filters.